San Rafael to consider hiring team to work on homeless problem

In about two months, homeless residents wandering the streets of downtown San Rafael could be gainfully employed by the city, cleaning and maintaining the blocks they traverse.

The San Rafael City Council is voting Tuesday on whether to enter into a one-year, $272,000 contract with the Downtown Streets Team — a Palo Alto-based nonprofit that helps homeless people find work and rebuild their lives.

Eileen Richardson, executive director of the Downtown Streets Team, said participants are paid to pick up litter, erase graffiti and keep city blocks pristine.

"It's really a broom and a dustpan and sweeping the streets at the most basic level," Richardson said.

She said it gives homeless residents an opportunity to work, allowing them to experience responsibility and pride. She said the idea is to have a team of 12 people pick up trash and beautify downtown San Rafael for 20 hours a week.

The city has been considering partnering with the organization for about a year as a way to alleviate the local homeless problem.

San Rafael Police Chief Diana Bishop said the city has a large population of homeless residents, some of whom exhibit behaviors that frighten city residents.

"Sometimes people with a mental illness, a dog that's menacing, or a certain persona creates a perception of 'I'm not safe,'" Bishop said.

A group of city officials, residents and downtown business owners have been mulling ways to help homeless residents and address community concerns about loitering and public safety issues since last summer. The committee in partnership with the Thursday Morning Group — a group that also started last summer to address homeless issues — recommended the Downtown Streets Team be hired.

Jonathan Frieman, Thursday Morning Group founder, said he supports bringing the program to the city and not having to create a similar one from scratch.

"They were doing what we wanted to do," Frieman said. "It's just the kind of thing we need."

Homeless committee member Hugo Landecker agreed.

"It has got a track record of success. That part I think is very important," Landecker said.

He said the program won't eliminate all the problems with homeless people downtown, but will likely help. He said the homeless issue has been neglected for many years.

About 1,220 homeless people live in Marin County with 45 percent residing in San Rafael, according to the county's biennial 2011 "Point-in-Time Count." The count revealed that the majority of the county's homeless are men, ages 31 to 50. Most stated the primary reasons for their homelessness were job loss, a lack of affordable housing and a lack of income.

Richardson said those who participate in the program will receive gift cards each week — typically $100 — for food, clothing and other essentials.

Once they've proved their commitment by working and attending weekly meetings, a case manager can help homeless residents write resumes, gain access to housing and even help connect them with psychiatric care. Participants can be part of the program for one year and can move up through the ranks, becoming team leaders and supervisors.

Ann-Marie Meacham, spokeswoman for the Downtown Streets Team, said the ultimate desire is to provide the tools and help people need to achieve their own goals, which hopefully include permanent housing and stable employment.

"We don't just say, 'Here's a food voucher, a place to sleep.' We say, 'What is it you're trying to achieve?'" Meacham said.

The team organization initially began in 2005 in Palo Alto, but has expanded to San Jose, Sunnyvale and even Florida. Richardson said it originated as a way to solve panhandling and blight issues. She said additional employment opportunities have opened up to the existing teams by partnering with nonprofits to provide janitorial services.

Richardson said the team's program has been wildly successful, and that they're excited to potentially expand to San Rafael.

"It's incredible to see how life changing it is if you just give somebody a chance," Richardson said. "They just needed a chance and not to be judged."

San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips said he hopes the council will approve the contract Tuesday so the Downtown Streets Team can get started in a couple of months.

"We look forward to improving our downtown," Phillips said. "We hope to have (the program) continuing for a number of years."

He said the team's efforts would be funded by $25,000 from the county, $50,000 from the Marin Community Foundation, $100,000 from Marin General Hospital, $50,000 from Kaiser Permanente San Rafael and the remaining $47,000 from the city. The exact details and contracts have yet to be inked, but Phillips said the idea is that the funding will be used to create more beds at the Vine Detox Center in San Rafael, where people can undergo alcohol and drug detoxification.

Instead of sending intoxicated homeless people to the jail or hospital, both of which Phillips said are costly, they'll be able to take more people to the detox center. Supposedly this will save the hospitals and county money, allowing them to funnel through funding for the streets team.

"We'll have more beds at the county, thus alleviating some of the pressure at the hospitals," Phillips said.

Bishop said the police department wants to utilize the detox center more than it has in the past, so people can get the help they need instead of entering the jail's revolving door. She said this plan, along with the streets team and the ongoing effort to hire a mental health outreach person, should help homeless residents and alleviate concerns from those who may feel frightened by them or their behavior.

"All these little things, I think they'll all take a little bit of a bite out of our issues," Bishop said.

Last October, the city launched an initiative to increase patrols of areas frequented by the homeless and step up enforcement for minor infractions, such as drinking alcohol from open containers and urinating in public in the downtown area. During the last enforcement period, from Nov. 5 to Nov. 21, police made 53 arrests and wrote 20 citations.

While some residents were pleased with the crackdown, others called for the city to do more by focusing on service programs for the homeless instead of punishment measures.

The Rev. Paul Gaffney, with the Marin Interfaith Council, said something needs to be done to help local homeless residents, but that he has mixed feelings about the Downtown Streets Program. He said the program is expensive and raises a lot of concerns.

"I think that there are other more creative ways to spend $272,000 to help people who are homeless," Gaffney said.

He said it seems patronizing to give homeless workers gift cards instead of paying them in cash and to only pay them about $5 an hour for labor. He said he's not convinced the homeless people he works with will feel the low-paying job is worth the effort.

Instead of paying a program manager $60,000 a year to oversee the program, Gaffney suggested that person's hours be cut in half and the remaining money be used to bolster the pay for participants.

"When we create more programs that necessitate hiring more people in expensive administrative positions at the expense of paying people fairly, I have an ethical issue with that," Gaffney said.

While supportive of the program's intent, he said his concerns are simply a reflection of those he ministers to.

"We'll have to wait and see how much bang we're actually going to get for our buck," he said.